INQ is a website that features the releases of 28 (I counted) different netlabels. The site looks nice and doesn’t have the ‘crawler’ or ‘machine’ feel to it that a lot of “community” sites have. Each label featured on INQ has their own subpage, with a brief description of what they do and a 1 hour mix of their material. It seems that each label is required to submit a mix to be listed on INQ.

These mixes are a great way to get a general feel for what each label is doing and I’ve enjoyed listening through them and exploring. There are so many netlabels out there and there are probably even more that are not on a list. It’s a bit overwhelming.

I am less interested in the “news” aspect of the collective because it mirrors content being published elsewhere. The mixes, however, are a nice touch and they are a nice alternative to going to 28 different websites.

Myplaylist is a service that compiles a playlist of available music and pictures on the internet. You type in a name of a band and then you can chose from one or more already created playlists of songs and images. A playlist will be automatically created for you on the spot if you are searching for something new. While you are listening to music, you can watch a slideshow of flickr images based on the search. I like the use of flickr images playing to music.

Myplaylist has a fairly basic function and that’s great. Beyond this function there is a little more fun to be had. I’ve discovered a lot of random awesome remixes by well known artists, stuff I didn’t know existed. The results of my search have been unexpected which has been a pleasant surprise.

Fun experiments

For those that like mashups: you can open up multiple myplaylist ’sessions’.

For those that are interested in the tagging phenomena: type in a random phrase or number and a playlist will be generated. I was just listening to a playlist of ‘untitled’ songs and it was pretty cool.

Yesterday I participated in my first Smaarting of a speaker system. The speaker system: the Albert of The Goodman Theatre. The Smaart was prompted by the upcoming musical Ain’t Misbehavin’ which will be the first musical I have ever worked on. It will also mark the final show of my internship at The Goodman, weighing in at a total of 6 shows.

Smaart is the name of a program. From the EAW website:

Smaart is the most straightforward and widely used software for real-time sound system measurement, optimization and control, and now, it’s also backed by the full weight of EAW’s renowned development and support services. Smaart is the most straightforward and widely used software for real-time sound system measurement, optimization and control, and now, it’s also backed by the full weight of EAW’s renowned development and support services.

What’s the point? Acoustics is a depressing subject. Problems arise when listening to one speaker in a room and many many problems arise when listening to 34 speakers in a room. As Doug Fowler puts it in his “SIA Smaart Live for Beginners“:

The goal: get out exactly what you put it.

This seems somewhat intuitive but upon examination a clear distinction can be made between the usual equalization process practiced by those not using test equipment and a scientific method supported by measurement and reasoning. The perfect integration of art and science can yield stunning results, yet it is crucial to understand when to apply each.

Art and Science in the same sentence makes me happy. I wonder what the perfect integration is…?

Smaart has always seemed too inaccessible to me, like something you have to pay mysterious professionals with alien technology every 10 years and in the mean time there is nothing you can do to precisely measure delay. After seeing the process in motion it seems that with a little research it’s something anyone could learn how to do. Base equipment and test microphones aren’t as expensive and out of reach as I thought.

Earthworks HDM microphone used as measurement (thanks to Dave and his iPhone for the picture)

Great news everybody! “Grow in the Dark Watch” is the next scheduled release on the netlabel test tube. It will be my first published solo project and I’m proud to have it featured through such a great netlabel.

More information about the music and the label coming soon.

Just got back from the 25th Anniversary Chicago Blues Festival in Grant Park. My friend Randall and I stayed for most of the afternoon and saw a wide variety of entertainment. There was a great mixture of old and young people on stage, people who were connected to the music bloodline and people who weren’t, and full blown polished bands to stages that had only one dude with a guitar and a microphone.

So I suppose the festival is one of those ’something for everybody’ ordeals. I for sure got my something but given my terrible memory have already forgotten the name of the two guys that lulled me into a stupor for over an hour. Never mind their name at the moment, the important part was watching people staight up rocking. That was quite rejuvenating. These guys had me dancing like, what Randall refers to as, ‘the 40-year-old mother who is comfortable in her own skin and wants everybody to know it.’